Student project offers guidance on controversial natural gas drilling

Hillary Benedict (left), Matt Wisniewski, Chase Delans and Cari Troupe work on the project that they will present on Friday in the Rose Library flex space.

A tool to assist decision-makers in weighing the pros and
cons of a controversial natural gas drilling process is being designed by a
group of JMU engineering students.

"Our hope is that people will be able to use our
modeling software to view predictions of impacts of hydraulic fracturing in a
specific area," said Hillary Benedict, one of four seniors who have been
working on the project for more than a year.

The project, which will be presented at the department of
engineering's 2013 Engineering Poster Fair from 2-5 p.m. Friday (April 19) in
the Rose Library flex space, is being done in an Excel spreadsheet, said Matt
Wisniewski, but it could be used on other platforms. In addition to software,
the project involves writing a manual on how to use the software.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called hydrofracking, is a
process that involves using pressurized liquids to fracture rock to free
trapped gas. Much of the controversy revolves around possible environmental contamination,
especially of groundwater by the fluids used for hydraulic fracturing.

In designing their assessment tool, the students have
focused on gathering data in an 86,000-acre area of Shenandoah Mountain, a
mountain in the George Washington National Forest on the Virginia/West Virginia
border. The students won't make a recommendation about hydraulic fracturing for
the area, although when they first started the project, they thought they
would.

"This project has really evolved," Benedict said.
"We went into it thinking we were going to look at hydraulic fracturing,
the entire process vs. coal or some other energy source and be able to say
whether it is good or bad. Then we realized that was much more difficult. We're
trying to remain as unbiased as possible. Our hope is that we can provide a
tool so people can assess it themselves."

"I liked the fact that we got to mold our project into
what we were really interested in," said Cari Troupe, who has been
focusing on water quality in the study area as well as water quality standards.

Wisniewski said the project has been both challenging and
rewarding and that it will look good on their resumes. "There have been times
we stumbled and made mistakes, but it's been good to have that opportunity in
such a safe environment. It has really been a phenomenal learning experience."

Chase Delans said the project has provided a top-notch
design experience. "We have to design each step in it and then when it
comes to the software, we have to integrate all the information we've
collected, we have to integrate the equations that we're working with, the raw
data we're getting and the data we're producing. And we have to design a
program that is able to take user input and then spit out specific outputs that
the customer is able to use."

Delans has focused on looking at the carbon emissions
lifecycle assessment and details about how hydraulic fracturing operations are
set up and work. He also has researched codes and standards regarding carbon
emissions.

All four students say they are interested in pursuing careers
in environmental engineering.